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Name: An (Joseph)
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Traditionally Outside receives extremely high ratings by those who like to see others play it, and these people are in many cases comfortably ensconced Inside themselves. Outside was released many years ago, it was in fact the first massively multiplayer game, and yet it has always managed to avoid the double-edged Retro tag. In its favor, continual user updates have kept Outside current; there are always new things to see and do Outside. Participants are permitted, to some extent, to modify their own areas of Outside, which is a large part of the fun of the game. However it seems that in the end one is modifying Outside largely for the sake of it, and having done it, there is a distinct feeling of "now what?"
In terms of the traditional target age content metrics, Outside is remarkably high in sex, violence and challenges to traditional values, despite the strong child-focussed marketing it receives. Many would go so far as to say that for a child to develop the ability to cope with Outside is essential, as long as the harm incurred is not too debilitating. Children injured playing Outside are usually comforted by parents, and soon encouraged to go Outside again; this leads to the conclusion that somehow Outside has escaped any and all of the usual moralizing that surrounds the videogaming industry. One might say that Outside gets a free pass from the Jack Thompsons of this world.
That aside, how does Outside actually rate? The physics system is note-perfect (often at the expense of playability), the graphics are beyond comparison, the rendering of objects is absolutely beautiful at any distance, and the player's ability to interact with objects is really limited only by other players' tolerance. The real fundamental problem with the game is that there is nothing to do.
In terms of game play the game sets few, if any, goals: the major one is merely "survive". What goals a player sets, are often astonishingly tedious to actually achieve, and power-ups and gear upgrades, let alone extra weapons, are few and far between. Some players choose accumulation of money, one of the many point systems in the game, as a goal, but distribution of this is often randomized and it can be hard to tell what activities will lead to gaining points in advance, and what the risks will be.
Other players choose to focus on accumulation of personal abilities, the variety of which greatly exceeds the capacity of any individual to accumulate; again, the game requires players to engage in years of grinding to achieve any notable standard with a skill or ability. Players are issued abilities and characteristics largely at random, and it is entirely possible for a player to be nerfed beyond any reasonable expectation of being able to play the game, or to be buffed to the point where anything he or she does is markedly easier. Unfortunately over time, player abilities tend to degrade, unless significant effort is made to keep skills up. This reviewer cannot emphasise this enough: Outside requires a huge time investment to build up player abilities, exceeding any other massively multiplayer game on the market by some three orders of magnitude.
Players are encouraged to focus on social interaction, which can be engaged in in a variety of ways. In fact it's extraordinarily difficult to solo anything whatsoever in Outside, apart from basic skill and knowledge accumulation quests. One of the major forms of social interaction in the game is based largely around the addition of new players to Outside, and is both complex and, in comparison to the storyline-driven romance quests of, say, Baldur's Gate or Mass Effect, they are immensely difficult. Dedicated players of Outside, however, report that the romance quests are among the most rewarding the game has to offer.
The game world is immense, perhaps unfeasibly so. The sheer amount of resources that went into development of the Outside environment is staggering to consider. Outside is a world of tremendous size, containing examples of every known real-world terrain type and inhabited by every known real-world animal. On the other hand it is somewhat lacking in the traditionally expected, more interesting, zones where the developers would be given the opportunity to show off their skills in varying the physics and graphics of the game. There are, for instance, no zones where gravity varies to any significant degree.
The respawn rate of objects and players is ridiculously slow. A dead player can expect to wait for years to respawn, and will be set back to zero assets and a tiny, nearly helpless form. Death is hardcore, and resurrection all but impossible. Outside is not a game for the QQers out there!
In terms of the social environment, almost anything goes. Outside has a vast network of guilds, many of its players are active participants in designing the game's social environment, and almost any player will be able to find company to undertake their desired group quests. On the other hand, gold-buying is rife, the outskirts of virtually every city zone in the game are completely overrun by farmers, and the developers have so far proven themselves reluctant to answer petitions, intervene in inter-player disputes, or nerf broken skills and abilities. Indeed this reviewer will go so far as to say that the developers are absent from the game entirely, and have left it to its own devices. Fortunately, server uptime has been 100% from day 1, despite there being only one server for literally billions of players.
On the whole, Outside is overrated, and many gamers will find themselves forced by friends and family to play it against their will, but it still deserves a high rating. I give it 7/10, and look forward to improvements in future patches.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 4:19 PM on March 30 [268 favorites]
The above was from this link (sent to me by my boss lol):
http://www.metafilter.com/70365/The-Myth-of-the-Media-Myth-Games-and-NonGamers#2063862
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AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core 2GHz, 2x512KB L2, 4GB DDR2, 250GB 54000rpm SATA, 8X DVD崇/RW, 12.1" WXGA BrightView, NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150-559MB, Gigabit NIC, 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, Vista Home Premium Unsurpassed Style
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?Touch Screen. Navigate your applications with the included stylus ?or simply use your fingernail. Capture short hand-written notes and drawings anywhere you go. Convert them to text.
?HP Webcam and Integrated Microphone. Turn your next instant message into a live video chat with the integrated webcam, omnidirectional microphone and IM solution of your choice. Optimized for low-light environments, it's great for capturing short videos or photos to e-mail to friends or share on your favorite social networking site.
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?LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling. Create custom laser-etched disc labels right in the drive with LightScribe and preinstalled Roxio ExpressLabeler. Just burn data on the disc, flip it over and burn the cover image using any scanned image and/or text. Free label designs and color background discs in five vivid shades are now available. Visit the LightScribe Web site for more information. | Processor(s) | | Processor | 2GHz AMD Turion?64 X2 Dual-Core | | Cache | | Cache standard, primary | 0KB | | Cache standard, secondary | 1MB | | Magnetic/Optical Drives | | Hard Drive | 250 GB | | Hard Drive interface type | SATA (Serial ATA) | | Optical drive | 8X DVD+-RW | | RAM | | RAM standard | 4GB DDR2 SDRAM | | RAM maximum | 4GB | | Display | | Display | 12.1 active-matrix/TFT/XGA | | Display, maximum resolution | 1280 x 800 | | Miscellaneous | | Modem included | Yes | | Network interface card included | Yes | | NIC type | 10/100/1000 | | Wireless NIC included | Yes | | Bluetooth capable | Yes | | Battery Type | Lithium Ion | | PC Card slots | 1 | | PC Card standard | CardBus (32-bit) | | Form factor | notebook | | OS | Microsoft Vista Home Premium | | Keyboard Details | 101-key compatible | | Pointing device type | Touch Pad-On/Off button | | Weight (lbs) | 4.49 | | Width, inches | 12.05 | | Height, inches | 1.52 | | RAM Details | | RAM details | 4096MB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Max supported =4096MB | | HD Details | | Hard Drive details | 250GB 5400rpm SATA | | Video Details | | Display and video details | Display: 12.1" WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Touch-screen Display (1280 x 800) - Panel rotates 180 degrees and folds flat
Video Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 (UMA) (e) with up to 559MB Graphics Memory | | Optical Details | | Optical Details | LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD崇/RW with Double Layer Support | | Modem Details | | Modem Details | High speed 56k modem | | NIC details | | Network interface details | Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector) | | Wireless details | | Wireless details | 802.11a/b/g/n (draft 802.11n) WLAN & Bluetooth | | PC Card Details | | PC Card Details | 101-key compatible | | Battery Details | | Battery Details | 6-Cell Lithium-Ion battery | | Software Details | | Software Details | Symantec Norton Internet Security 2007, HP Total Care Help & Support Center, PC Recovery, Wireless Home Network, Microsoft Works, Microsoft Office 2007 Student and Teacher Edition and many more... | | Additional Details | | Additional details | Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 2 Headphone out, 1 microphone-in, 1 VGA, 1 TV-Out, 1 RJ-11, 1 RJ-45, 1 notebook expansion port 3 & 2 Consumer IR(1 on notebook & 1 on panel) | | Physical Details | | Physical, details | Dimensions: 8.82"(L) x 12.05"(W) x 1.23" (min H)/1.52" (max H) | | Power Details | | Power Details | 65W AC Adapter | | Manufacturer Information | | Parts Warranty | 1 year | | Labor Warranty | 1 year |
Retail Price: $1,373.00 Our Price: $1,144.00 |
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